Most computer systems and networks have an electronic mail system that enables a user to send an electronic message (email) to one or more recipients located anywhere in the world. Email messages typically comprise text notes entered from the keyboard or electronic files stored on disk. Most email systems allow a user to send an email to a number of individuals (i.e., a mailing list) simply by specifying their email addresses in a “To:” or “Cc:” field or box of a user interface window. Similarly, an individual recipient of an email sent to multiple persons (addressees) may send a reply email to all of the recipients addressed in the original email simply by “clicking” on a “reply-all” icon or button of a graphical user interface (GUI) window. In other words, a reply-all email is delivered to everyone addressed in the original email. A series of email messages posted as back-and-forth replies to each other is commonly known as an email “thread”. By reading each email message in a thread, one after the other, it is possible to trace the history of the discussion.
A problem can arise when multiple email recipients engage in back-and-forth discussions using the reply-all email feature. For instance, what happens sometimes is that several recipients of a reply-all email (to which they have no interest in) will send a responsive reply-all email asking the other recipients to refrain from sending any more reply-all emails. When there are numerous recipients listed in an on-going email discussion or thread, the number of reply-all email transmissions can multiply quickly. This problem is referred to as a “runaway email thread” which consumes valuable resources and is a source of irritation and aggravation for recipients of reply-all emails.